There must be something in the air as of late, as the 2025 movie schedule is bringing us fast and furious updates on seemingly all the major franchises in play. Now that the Avengers: Doomsday epic live blog is behind us, clearly the next logical move Hollywood had was to give us a tease of what’s to come from Downton Abbey 3. With a new poster and a final title now revealed, one could say it’s The Grand Finale we’ve all been waiting for.
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale Is Living Up To Its Emotional Promise
No, seriously, Focus Features and Carnival have now unveiled that the September 12th epic three-quel to creator Julian Fellowes’ drama hit will be called Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. Unfortunately this announcement didn’t come with any new details or even a plot synopsis on what to expect. That being said, we haven’t left the Downton Estate empty handed, as we were given this teaser poster - with a very emotionally cryptic tagline:
Oh… oh Focus Features. Don’t you dare put that emotional weight on me, with your message that “The time has come to say goodbye.” Haven’t we already done that enough, especially in the wake of Downton Abbey: A New Era’s heart-wrenching ending?
It certainly doesn’t ease my mind that all we see in this first one-sheet is Michelle Dockery’s Lady Mary Talbot standing in an elegant red dress on a similarly colored carpet that stretches out to meet the title below. That feels like as good a tease as any to revisit the previous film, which is thankfully available through a Peacock subscription at the moment.
Maybe I was a fool to even think of questioning Imelda Staunton’s early Downton claim that this third trip would be the last, but when I heard Jim Carter’s Mr. Carson promise another hundred years of history at the end of the first motion picture, I took that to heart.
Now that the end is indeed confirmed to be near, I think we die hard fans should go through and discuss what’s at stake here. Though we don’t have further plot details to chew over, a returning cast member’s recent remarks do feel even more pointed in the wake of this news.
The Return Of Paul Giamatti’s Harold Levinson Is Even More Suspicious
Reprising his role as Harold Levinson, brother of Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) and son of Martha (Shirley MacLaine), my initial suspicion was that we might hear of the fiery matriarch of the Levinson family’s passing. However, one glaring realization seems to dawn on us fans who were stunned to hear Paul Giamatti’s Downton Abbey 3 casting: we’re not far off from the Great Depression in the series timeline.
Downton Abbey: A New Era’s events took place during 1928, which is just one year shy of the Wall Street stock market crash. As we’ve seen previously, the Crawley family has had its fair share of money troubles, and they’ve made it through alright. However, if Harold Levinson (and potentially Martha) have fallen on hard times, this could be the final wrinkle that sets us up for this final act of family dramatics.
As if that didn't complicate things enough, there's also the chance that we'll see Mr. Carson's palsy getting worse, forcing him into retirement once more. Or we might see Cora's anemia turn out to actually be cancer, as initially thought, because someone read the wrong x-ray. A title like The Grand Finale leaves a lot to the imagination, and quite frankly it's probably only going to get worse once the first trailer debuts - whenever that may be.
For now let's ask not for whom Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale tolls, as on September 12th, it tolls for all interested in observing its conclusion. So it’s not too late for Kleenex and Better Help to get in on some cross promotional action that’ll soothe the nerves of all of us fans. For those about to cry, we salute you.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
